As I frantically told you last blog, my team and I had the pleasure of spending 12 days in a remote village of the Malaysian jungle. As you’ll read, it was an incredible experience very few people ever get, and I’m incredibly grateful for the experience. However, to say it was a memorable, unique experience would be an understatement. From quite early in the adventure I sensed this would be true, so after doing a pretty poor job of journaling the first 8 months, I did so every day this month. So enjoy direct from my journal part one of my chronicles of our adventure into the middle of nowhere.
Day 0 – Wednesday, January 26 – Kuala Lumpur
– We’re in KL with Team Dove and our contacts have made talk of one team going to the jungle for ministry – which hasn’t really been discussed before arrival. And surely they don’t really mean jungle. It’s probably nothing.
– 5:30 – It’s something. Our team is leaving for the jungle…for 2 weeks…in 2 hours.
– 9:00 – It’s the WR, of course 2 hours turns into 3 1/2. We throw our bags in a truck driven by a man named Santana and meet our contact Tony. I don’t know it yet, but the man is hysterical…he also looks just like Alvar Hanso/Pierre Chang from Lost.
– 11:30 – Arrive at someone’s house somewhere and crash for the night in a room with a mattress and ceiling fan…last taste of civilization.
Day 1 – Thursday, January 27
– Buy all of our groceries for the next 12 days – lots of rice. Can’t forget anchovies in bulk either!
– We arrive at the road to the village. Unload bags from the truck along with the wagon we’ll hitch to a tractor to help get us and our stuff through the mud to our new home.
– Ashely and I get in Santana’s truck and he drives us 100 yards away to the main road. We expect the other 3 to follow. False. We wait. Santana points to a stream to wash our hands – on the other side of a barbed wire fence. Ashley rips her pants on it, then we nap on a random road side bamboo bed.
– After an hour, Tony returns. He’s taken the others to the 2nd village on the road – one shy of our target village, and he’s back for us. We get there and I take a nap on the floor while Tony talks to the village head man (not village hit man like I originally thought he said – whew.)
– Tony has Kyle and I help take bags and food to the next village. It’s been pouring, and we’re not sure we’ll be able to make it. We try though.
– We fail. We make it through some treacherous stretches, but eventually
get stuck. After repeated attempts the village local hops out to walk
to the next village to get the tractor. We wait.
– We fail. We make it through some treacherous stretches, but eventually
get stuck. After repeated attempts the village local hops out to walk
to the next village to get the tractor. We wait.
Shockingly we couldn’t get through this stretch.
– 1 hour passes – no tractor. Looks like rain, so we head back so our stuff doesn’t get wet. We get back safely despite slipping and sliding like wild and getting tossed all over the truck. Just the latest form of WR travel- mudding. It’s decided we’ll spend the night in this village and try again in the morning after it’s hopefully dried out.
– Tractor arrives back. We follow in the truck and afterward as we slide back to the village, Tony points out the spot where he once wrecked into the mud wall so he didn’t slip the other way into a huge ravine. He says it was in nearly identical conditions as the ones we’re driving in now. Tony laughs, which he does a lot. I don’t. We survive.
– Bed time approaches. When asked where to use the bathroom they point to the trees. Tony and I find a semi-private spot to relieve ourselves right next to each other.
– I sleep in a room of a neighboring bamboo house. I’m joined by Tony and Ashley. At 12:30 I’m also joined by a cat playing with my head. I freak out determine it’s a cat, not a rat, but still a little too wired to sleep. The cat comes back a few times to curl up on my legs. I inform it no such thing will happen. The next morning as we talk about the cats I tell Tony I woke up once and it was curled up by his feet. He told me he thought that had been my feet. He appears to be relieved.
My hotel for the night, minus the attacking cats
My hotel for the night, minus the attacking cats
-Quote of the day: “The men don’t have anything to do at night, so they get bored and make life.” – Tony, explaining why the village we’re going to has so many children
Day 2 – Friday, January 28
– Awaken. Eat fried noodles for breakfast. (Little do we know how much we’ll miss this.) Pack up the wagon and everyone hops in. Off to the village!!
– The wagon breaks 100 yards later leaving us sitting at a nice 45 degree angle. A large horde of locals is called, we pull the wagon back, and jam a log in the front to brace it.
– After a few minutes we’re told, or charaded, to start walking. The tractor will eventually follow with our stuff. It’s only 12 km, why not? The mud is awful – sometimes slippery like ice other times deep and thick. Eventually the mud is so thick Kirsten, Ashley and I take off our shoes so they stop getting stuck. Time to go barefoot.
– About this time our tractor catches up to us for just a minute until it gets stuck and we regain the lead. Very soon after this our tractor drivers pass us in a motorcycle – minus the tractor with out stuff of course. Ashley and Kyle hustle back since we decide leaving our stuff unattended in the jungle isn’t the best idea.
– A motorcycle gang of 8-10 pass us. One speaks English. He asks us where we’re from. We say US and he peels away yelling Obama!
– After 2 hours and 18 minutes I arrive at our village. I didn’t fall the whole time. In 2 minutes and 18 seconds I manage to fall on my butt right outside our church.
-Lili, Ashley and I head to the river to bathe. Feel great. Until of course we all fall on the road trying to get back up to our church making our bathing quite futile.
– Dinner time! We didn’t have lunch so we’re quite hungry. Good thing dinner is tapioca and anchovies – my favorite!! Oh well, I guess I have some weight I can shed this month.
– About this time our tractor catches up to us for just a minute until it gets stuck and we regain the lead. Very soon after this our tractor drivers pass us in a motorcycle – minus the tractor with out stuff of course. Ashley and Kyle hustle back since we decide leaving our stuff unattended in the jungle isn’t the best idea.
– A motorcycle gang of 8-10 pass us. One speaks English. He asks us where we’re from. We say US and he peels away yelling Obama!
– After 2 hours and 18 minutes I arrive at our village. I didn’t fall the whole time. In 2 minutes and 18 seconds I manage to fall on my butt right outside our church.
-Lili, Ashley and I head to the river to bathe. Feel great. Until of course we all fall on the road trying to get back up to our church making our bathing quite futile.
– Dinner time! We didn’t have lunch so we’re quite hungry. Good thing dinner is tapioca and anchovies – my favorite!! Oh well, I guess I have some weight I can shed this month.
Coming soon: days 3-12 including little food, lots of time with the Lord and an absurd amount of animal attacks!
